The Goblin Mirror
by Refictionista
Summary: ONE-SHOT (sort of) - This story is supposed to be an addition to [The Tales of Beedle the Bard], and it is *loosely* based on the novel [Mirror, Mirror] by Gregory Maguire. SPOILER: Hermione (and Draco) will read this wizarding fairytale and use it for clues in my other Harry Potter fanfic, [Draco, Hermione, and the Goblin Mirror]... so don't read if spoilers aren't your thing ;-)


**Author's Note**

**The following is an addition to _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_ by J.K. Rowling, which I have loosely based on the novel _Mirror, Mirror_ by Gregory Maguire. As always, I own nothing.  
**

**SPOILER: this is a Wizarding fairytale that Hermione will later read ****in my other story, ****_Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, and the Goblin Mirror_. The similarities to the Muggle fairytale of _Snow White_ are intentional on my part.****  
**

**If you have a moment to review, I would really appreciate feedback on this before I use it in DMHG&amp;tGM. ****Specifically, I want to know:**

1\. **Do you have any suggestions on how to make this more whimsical? (however, it must remain dark)**  
2\. **What do _you_ think is the moral of this story?**

**Cover image adapted from one that ****Helen Stratton drew in 1899 when she did the illustrations for ****_The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen_.**

**~ Refictionista, April 6, 2015  
**

_Update_

_My utmost thanks to AliceGI, grey chemistry, Honoria Granger, ladymagna1100, lupuslady, meldz, and PawsChan001 for all their wonderful feedback in making this a better and definitely more well-rounded fairytale.**  
**_

* * *

§ **The Goblin Mirror **§  
a story from _The Tales of Beedle the Bard_

* * *

There was once a minor nobleman who lived long ago in a faraway kingdom. One day, the nobleman fell in love, and he married a kind and gentle white witch. During the third year of their marriage, their only child became deathly ill; however, the witch was unafraid. With the deep and ancient power of a mother's sacrificial love, she gave up her magic and her life to save the baby. From that day forward, the nobleman became a widower, living alone on his small estate with only his young daughter, Bianca, who each day grew to look more and more like her beautiful mother. They were a modest but happy family, with only a few staff who mainly tended the farms. Their life was good and simple.

As with all good things, their peace was shattered when travelers arrived at their home.

The visitors were a sorceress named Lucrezia and her despicable brother, a duke named Cesare. The sorceress was the vain and wicked daughter of an evil necromancer, and though she was a great beauty, her heart was by far the darkest in the land. The duke had come to send the widower on a quest for a magical relic, for he was a squib and had been told by his sister that an apple from the Tree of Knowledge would grant him wizarding powers.

The tree had withered long ago, and so this was a fool's errand. Bianca, who knew the ways of such magical things, feared her beloved father would never return and begged him to stay. Unable to refuse the duke's order, the widower left. He took with him their estate's short blacksmith, a mean and ugly man who gruffly promised the young girl that he would protect her father on their long journey.

Of course it came to pass that, during the many years that her father was gone, Bianca grew to become a fair maiden.

The evil sorceress became jealous of the younger woman's beauty, which had captured her brother's lewd interest. Unable to accept the loss of Cesare's affections, the sorceress hired a dragon hunter to kill Bianca and bring her the girl's heart. Setting eyes upon her beauty, the hunter was enchanted. He helped Bianca escape into the Dark Forest. When he returned to the estate, the hunter then secretly murdered Cesare and brought the sorceress her brother's squib heart instead. Lucrezia gleefully gave the dragon hunter a bag of galleons as his reward. He stoically thanked her then left in great haste, vowing forevermore to hunt only dragons.

Lost in the woods, the maiden ran aimlessly until she reached the home of six goblins, who lived deep within the Dark Forest. They were there looking for a long-lost goblin-made mirror, which had the power to reflect only the truth and would never lie. They took the grateful girl in so that she could tend the house while the goblins searched for their mirror.

A seventh goblin, having learned that their mirror once belonged to a hedgewitch who had married a nearby nobleman, had left many years prior. His name was Garnuk the Grumpy, and this goblin was the same blacksmith who had offered to protect the widower during the quest given to him by the duke.

Back at the estate and alone, Lucrezia discovered the goblin mirror that was once owned by Bianca's mother, the white witch. Lucrezia became obsessed with its magic, and she stared at her reflection all day and all night. Her madness grew the more she saw the truth of her dark soul. When she thought she could bear no more, the mirror also revealed that her plan to kill Bianca had failed and how that failure led to her brother's death.

Furious, Lucrezia reached through the mirror to grab one of the very apples that Cesare had desired. She used sorcery to trick the goblins into purchasing the apple as a gift for the young maiden, and they unknowingly poisoned Bianca with it. Though the apples from the Tree of Knowledge could grant powers to those without gifts of their own, the fruit would siphon away life from those who already had magical abilities.

No longer bewitched, the six goblins, unable to kill Lucrezia yet wanting vengeance for the death of their beloved innocent maiden, drove the evil sorceress from the kingdom and then sent a message to the goblin who still accompanied the widower. The mirror, of which they had sought for so long, now only showed them the body of the beautiful Bianca in her tomb. The goblins no longer desired to look upon its reflection and be reminded of what happened, so they returned to their home in the Dark Forest.

When the widower finally returned and saw the bitter truth of his daughter's death in the mirror, he threw himself through the glass, shattering it, and then bled to death. Garnuk the Grumpy sadly buried his traveling companion, and then he gathered the broken shards of the mirror.

Neither what remained of the mirror nor the seventh goblin were ever seen again.


End file.
